Asterix and the Banquet by Rene Goscinny

I really like all the Asterix books, but this one is one of my favourites, especially since it shows the different kinds of foods and lifestyles around Rome at that time. Every time I read an Asterix book, I enjoy it for different reasons. For example, earlier I used to just enjoy the Roman soldiers getting beaten up, then I enjoyed the small references in the names (a bard named Cacophonix, Fullyautomatix's dad being called Semiautomatix, a really muscular Roman soldier being called Gluteus Maximus, etc), and now I got some of the political references too (Asterix complaining about the traffic in Rome, the fact that they accurately represented our government as crazy, chaotic, and confusing using a Roman governmental building as the representation). This particular book was especially nice since it was a bit of a thriller (since they were on a timer).

​Reviewed by Baguette Mendez